As the Queen of the Red Carpet, Joan Rivers has been
eyewitness to Hollywood's most heinous crimes (okay, so
they're fashion related). And in this über-stylish mystery,
she enlists her no-holds barred, slightly blonder literary
counterpart, Maxine Taylor, to solve a crime of a different
sort. When a gorgeous young actress dies on the Red Carpet,
some in Tinseltown call it bad publicity. Max calls it
murder.
The Academy Awards®. It's Hollywood's
biggest night, and there's no star better equipped than the
tart-tongued Max Taylor to hold court on the glamorous Red
Carpet. Sharing the dish with her daughter, Drew, the
calls-it-as-she-sees-it entertainer has parlayed this
star-studded annual gig into television's most-watched
pre-show event. And tonight, Max has landed a real coup --
an exclusive interview with Halsey Hamilton, a fabulous,
young, paparazzi-trailed Oscar nominee. But not even Max,
who's seen her share of celebrity train wrecks, is prepared
for an incoherent Halsey, straight out of rehab, to stumble
up to the mic, slur a few cryptic words, and drop dead at
the hem of Max's stunning Michael Kors gown.
To
Hollywood, the starlet's demise was tragic but inevitable.
To Max, it looks more like a perfectly calculated crime.
After all, she alone heard Halsey's final whisper -- a clue
that leads Max to the pricey rehab clinic Wonders. With a
weakness for nothing more disturbing than artificial
sweeteners, Max nonetheless goes undercover and embarks on a
twelve-step investigation into murder. Once inside the
luxury clinic, Max's list of suspicious players expands
faster than the Jolie-Pitt family: Burke Norris, a
professional cad and Drew's ex-fiancé; Halsey's father, who
is still making money off his dead daughter's fame; Halsey's
jealous younger sister; and Rojo Bernstein, a tattooed
karate hipster who knew the troubled fallen star much better
than anyone suspected.
Now it's left to Max to unravel
the sordid motives and find Halsey's killer while upstaging
an over-the-top Hollywood memorial service and funeral where
the ill-fated actress was buried in, of all things, a tacky
designer knockoff! And you thought the Oscars were all swag
bags and Jimmy Choos? Hah! Honey, it's murder. In Murder
at the Academy Awards®, Joan Rivers delivers a very
smart, bracingly funny, and pitch-perfect reflection of a
Hollywood only she would dare to reveal -- all seen through
the eyes of an indomitable, high-end amateur sleuth who
isn't asking "Who are you wearing?" but rather "Whodunit?"
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